Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Chances are if you have a little girl... you know Elsa. You've seen Disney's Frozen and you are probably starting to hear the tune of "Let it Go" as you read this post...

Like many other little girls, our little one has fallen in love with Elsa's costume. I am pretty sure she likes Elsa too... but come on, let's be real here... Its probably the dress she is most impressed with.

For our daughters costume this year we hacked a second hand size 12 prom dress into an 8 year olds dream costume.

This took a few different steps to complete. One being this easy DIY corset.

What you'll need:

Simple sewing skills
Sewing machine (Brother Innovis 950D used here)
Various fabrics( listed below)
Thread
scissorsEyelet/Grommets for leather making or fabric and a grommet setter (found in the same location as the grommets)
Ribbon (to tie the back)

Take a quick measure of your model (TIP: Use a fitted T-shirt to guestimate your models measurements) and figure out just about how much fabric you will need. For our 8 year old, we used 1/2 a yard.

Fabrics you will need (All fabrics found at Joann Fabric and Craft Store):

Flowy sequin embellished costume netting (this had sequin sewn onto it, which is great for wear)

Plain fabric for backing (you could just use the initial cotton you buy, I used muslin since I had some on hand and had forgotten about the back...oops)

MEASURE
To start, measure from just under the collar bone to just under the belly button (lower if you want the peak to be longer). This will act as the markers for the top of your corset and the bottom of your corset (peak). The corset has a sweat heart neckline that peaks at the bottom.

For the length across, take measure the front of your model across the waist and about 1/4 of the back. The opening in the back will be the lace up corset part.

CUT
To create the base for the corset, take your stabilizer and fold it in half. Take your measurement and use this as a guide to figure the top and bottom of your corset. Once this is figured, take a pencil and draw a half of heart with the center being on the fold. From here add the sides (half of the length measurement). This will be a rectangle that is joined to the heart, smoothing out the joints like this.

Cut out your stabilizer and then use this as a pattern to cut out the rest of your materials. You will end up with the same size cut from all 4 of your materials.

SEW
Now that you have your materials layer the materials facing up towards you like so: (bottom) Stabilizer, Cotton print (light aqua, right side up), sequin netting (right side up), backing (right side down).

With the backing on top, pin the fabric into place. (TIP: Lower your feed dogs, page 25) Sew a seam along the side to join all of the pieces. I use a thin seem to conserve size (1/4 inch or less). Sew the top and the bottom leaving the sides open.

After sewing the top and bottom seam, pull through and press if needed. At this point you should make sure all of your peaks and shapes are fully formed.

To finish off, add a regular stitch to the top of your sequin fabric creating a finishing seam, folding in your sides as your go. This will create a finished looking corset.

EMBELLISH/LACE
To create the lace up of your corset, add 4 grommets/eyelets evenly to each side of your corset.

Add ribbon to your corset to lace the back and create a fitted look.

WEAR
This makes a nice fitted corset for a young girl. If you are looking to make a corset for an adult, make sure to add in bust measurements as well as waist intake. You would want to create your corset with a true front and two sides.

So this is it. An easy DIY Elsa corset in just a few steps. Measure. Cut. Sew. Embellish.Wear. It may seem like it might be tough... but it isn't. This corset was done in around an hour. Pair this will a tight fitted long sleeve shirt and an A line skirt and you have yourself a costume! For our daughters costume we opted to alter an adult prom dress with a few tucks and stiches and added an existing shirt she had as well as a yard of iridescent fabric for the cape. With just a little thought and creativity you are sure to come up with a great handmade DIY costume for not a lot of effort.

I would love to see your takes on this or any other Halloween costumes you are working on. Feel free to post in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Liz Hicks ♥

*Please note that although this is not a sponsored post, some products have been provided for demonstration. Links provided are NOT affiliate links and in no way provide income or compensation to this blog. They are provided for educational purposes and to showcase what types of products were used for this tutorial.